Christina Izzo/The TimesJoe VanHandel picks Heirloom tomatoes on is farm in East Windsor. Township officials recently sat down to discuss a state law that would allow developers to seek waivers from environmental regulations, a policy that has sparked opposition but little interest.

EAST WINDSOR — Since its debut in August, a new policy intended to boost the economy by allowing developers to seek waivers from environmental regulations has seen only a trickle of interest.

There have been 11 applications for waivers statewide. Just two of those applications were in Mercer County and both of them were rejected.

Local officials say the public shouldn’t expect a flood of applicants, based on the difficulty of qualifying for waivers and a groundswell of opposition, which they say could lead to a revision of the so-called waiver rule.

“You have to prove and demonstrate that the environmental impact would be the same or better than under the existing rule,” said Robert Prunetti, president and CEO of the Mercer County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“You’re going to need consultants, attorneys, engineers to prove your case,” he said. “You’re going to have to spend some money on it.”

The policy was adopted by the state Department of Environmental Protection in March as a way to get the economy rolling faster by cutting through red tape. However, the rule stipulates that applicants must offer “substantial evidence” that the mandate they want to bypass is unduly burdensome, clashes with another regulation, or could be satisfied another way with a “net environmental benefit.”

The rule has spawned a lawsuit from 27 state environment and labor groups that allege the DEP overstepped its bounds in creating it, violating the terms of the state constitution’s separation of powers clause.

Local officials gathered at the East Windsor Holiday Inn last week to discuss the law and its significance for the area. East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov headed the session, and also present was Irene Kropp, deputy commissioner of the DEP.

Mironov and Prunetti say developers’ seeming lack of interest in the waiver rule may be due in part to its uncertain future.

Prunetti said waivers are not going to come easily, given the narrow set of circumstances under which they can be approved and the groundwork required for an application.

“We’re not going to waive every environmental rule we’ve ever made,” he said, noting that in the four cases in which waivers were refused, the applicant failed to provide enough supporting evidence to justify an exemption.

Ultimately, both Mironov and Prunetti said they support the rule.

Mironov said she doesn’t expect the rule to bring seismic changes to the area’s economy, but believes it will alleviate what she calls “What were they ever thinking?” rules that block “good and appropriate results” when it comes to development.

“I think it’s fair to say that all of us have seen or been involved with regulatory standards that don’t really seem to fit or make any sense in a specific situation,” she said.

The mayor cited an example in the construction of multi-purpose playing fields on Disbrow Hill Road to serve the East Windsor PAL and other organized community groups, which, according to Mironov, incurred a 25 percent cost increase due to a DEP regulation “that didn’t make sense.”

“We appealed and appealed within the department,” she said. “We weren’t able to make any progress,” which, Mironov said, may not be the case for local developers now.
Prunetti called the change “an attempt to create a smoother process for development” and believes it will resonate with government offices statewide and ultimately lead to similarly business-friendly legislation that makes “doing business with state agencies less complex, less costly.”